A woman has died in a tragic accident after eating toast that doctors believe would only happen three times in every million cases. The hard and sharp toast tore a hole in 75-year-old Vera Williams’ gullet, which eventually led to the pensioner’s death as she bled internally for two weeks.
The woman visited hospital after feeling intense pain in her throat but medical staff were unable to see anything was wrong and sent Williams home without any treatment. However, when the pain didn’t subside, the 75-year-old returned to the hospital where she was seen by an experienced doctor who believed she had an infection and prescribed antibiotics.
When she began to cough up blood the next day, she was rushed back to emergency by ambulance to be scanned, where doctors found that her oesophagus had been ruptured and blood had filled up her intestines. Williams couldn’t undergo surgery due to a severe heart condition and she died three days later.
Dr Marion Hughes examined the case for the coroner to see if doctors had acted appropriately and concluded they could not be blamed for the incident. “I don’t think I would have done anything different and I think the conclusions they came to were reasonable,” she said. “Throughout the country I believe there are three cases per one million of population.”
